[MythicDusk]

Belias slowly moved his hands, placing his warm palm over Betty's small shoulder. He looked up to Zari with a frown, deep lines etched into his face making him seem older than he was. "I'm afraid not, all we can do right now is get Betty's arm in a sling and try to make sure she doesn't overwork the muscle."

He felt Betty's tiny form tense up under his hand and he winced, baring his teeth for the slightest of moment before looking into the soft green eyes, watery and hurt that looked over his knuckles into his own eyes.

"I have to do stretches?" It had been so long since Belias had heard Betty's voice crack like that. So much fear and pain held in the simple sentence, and Belias simply slowly nodded, moving to pull Betty closer to himself.

"I know they hurt so much, little one. But we have to do them to keep your scar healing okay? We'll do it slow and careful like always. Make sure to tell me if something feels wrong okay?" His voice was gentle and careful, soothing Betty's fears as she wrapped her small hands around his forearm.

[Mousen]

Zari couldn't bear this. She messed with the ends of her hair, tugging it from the messy bun she'd pilled it up in. It fell over her face and she brushed it away, her hands catching in the cotters. She took a moment to step back from them, trying to neaten it, but really only succeeding in pulling loose hairs. Normally she'd have taken her time with it, but at this point she just needed something-- anything to distract her from the nothing she could do about this.

Realising she was already a few steps away from the two of them, she continued back to the caravan. She stayed only to grab a couple of glasses of water and a comb.

"Betty," she said softly as she returned, popping the glasses down on the grass. "If you're feeling up to it, after your stretches, I could tell you some more stories and braid your hair for you? Me and my sisters would always braid each other's hair and put flowers through it. I'm sure I could make it look however you wanted." It wasn't much, but at this point it was all Zari could offer to do.

[MythicDusk]

Betty nodded lightly, her face drawn as he felt the head of Belias' palm on her shoulder, felt his large fingers curl around her arm, felt the pressure as he began to lift her arm, began to manipulate her shoulder, work the muscles, promote healing. She stifled a cry of pain, her small fist tight and white against the wood she sat on, He blinked away tears as shears of hot pain sliced through her.

She could hear Belias cooing to her, the soft sounds that calmed her heart. The warmth of his hand helped as the muscles screamed. The knowledge of the stories to come helped, the knowledge that the overwhelming, fiery tearing pain would be replaced with a dull ache afterwards helped.

But at that moment, she let out a scream of pain as Belias grunted, as he rolled her shoulder in a certain way. She felt her body lurch as if she had been struck, tears falling down her face as she gasped and whimpered with pain.

Eventually, Belias slowly lowered her arm, tucking it against her chest with soft murmured apologies. He looked up and around himself, his own eyes watery with tears.

"Zari, love, could you see if someone could make a sling for Betty please? I don't want her using her arm or putting strain on her shoulder for a while."

He shuddered gently, a breath echoing from his teeth, his face tight and drawn as he looked down to the young girl, doing her best to stop the heavy sobs that rushed through her.

[Mousen]

Zari could hardly bear the sound of Betty in pain. She flinched away with every noise the poor child made, found her hands were shaking.

She nodded as Belias spoke, not even meeting his eyes and bustled off to find something that would make do. She stepped into Morte's caravan. There, she had a small conversation with him once he handed her a tissue to wipe her eyes with.

"Morte," she said. "I'm going to adopt a child."

He looked up from the small sling he was making with a piece of old fabric. "The injured one?"

"Yes."

"Good for you my darling. Here you go."

She returned after only a minute or two and handed the sling to Belias for him to help Betty with. She placed a hand between his shoulder blades for a moment, her fingers tracing his spine.

[MythicDusk]

Belias carefully helped Betty with the sling, watching as she carefully nestled her arm into the fabric. She sniffled and wiped the tears away, rubbing at her eyes with her free hand before Belias hushed her, a soft, gentle sound with a soft tug towards him. She sniffed again, climbing on to his lap and curling into him.

"Didn't you want to hear the stories Zari was going to tell you? And get your hair braided?"

His voice was soft, delicate. Betty nodded for a moment, letting the shuddering sobs leave her as Belias slowly lseaned back, gving her room to manouver and look up to Zari with red-ringed eyes.

"Wou-would that be okay?" Her voice was a soft croak, her throat raw after the pain that seemed to seize every inch of her.

[Mousen]

"Of course, sweetheart." Zari said, sitting by Belias, so she was next to Betty. She gently swept all of Betty's hair to the side, so it was away from her injured shoulder. "I'd like nothing better than to tell you some stories, since staying with Belias I haven't had any chance to tell anyone the stories my mother used to tell me." She began to brush Betty's hair, gently untangling any of the cotters, her hands separating out the pieces of hair for to be woven into braids.

She started telling the story of a princess made out of fire and a prince made of ice, of glass palaces and snowy mountains. Her hands worked nimbly, used to the movements.

[MythicDusk]

Betty sat in silence and listened, the dull throb of pain still making her wince. She couldn't bring herself to smile and laugh just yet. Even with Belias' powerful hands brushing away the tears on her cheeks, silent so Betty could hear the story better.

After a while, Betty began to respond a little more favorably. Gasping gently at twists, laughing at funny moments, life bleeding back in through her pain, despite her slinged arm.

Belias couldn't help his smile at the sight, the girl he thought of as his daughter grinning so wide so her nose scrunched and her eyes shut involuntarily.

He felt his heart shrivel at the thought of having to tell Zari what had happened to give her the scar.

[Mousen]

"... And they agreed that they would meet on the spring and autumn equinox, when the days are the exact same length as the night, and it was neither too cold for the Princess made of Flame or too warm for the Prince made of Ice and there they would meet to discuss what had gone on since the last time they had met, and they stayed best friends for all the years to come." Zari finished her story and stood up, walking over towards where the grass hadn't been trampled down as much by people coming and going. There wasn't a whole lot of variety in the kinds of flowers that grew in a forest this dense, and even in the clearings there were only some daisies and harebells, which Zari picked and began weaving into Betty's braids.

"All done!" she said brightly. "If you're feeling well enough, would you be okay to head back to the caravan for a moment, sweetheart? I just wanna talk to your Uncle Belias about something for a sec."

[MythicDusk]

Betty nodded gently, looking up to Belias who gave her a soft smile, nodding to the caravan they had been staying in and watching as she went off. He turned back to Zari after watching as Betty had found something to entertain herself. He wouldn't be surprised if she curled up in their bed to sleep, comforted by the residual scents.

He swallowed for a moment, twiddling his fingers, not looking Zari in the eye. He knew what she wanted to talk about, knew that she wanted to ask what happened, why she was scared, why she had such a large scar. He screwed his eyes shut for a moment, the memories flooding him and punching tears from his eyes.

"She's the reason I stopped going to war." His voice was hoarse and distant. "I was called in, to help, and I saw her and I just-" He licked his lips carefully, opening his scarred hands and staring at his palms before he slowly curled his fingers shut. "I couldn't leave again."

[Mousen]

Zari was trying to work out the best way to say what she wanted to say. She wanted the answers from Belias, of course, but that wasn't quite what was on her mind. No, what was on her mind were the sobs of that poor girl from her injury and the sound of her laughter as she'd told the funny bits of her story. She thought about the future, the care that she'd need, the steady home that she ought to grow up in, the fact that her best example of what a parent should be came from an undead magician. She was scared, but knew what she wanted. She could do this. It would be unconventional, strange. The girl wouldn't have a normal childhood or normal parents or a normal anything, but she would have them. It would be happy, she thought.

"Belias, if-" she paused, her breath catching in her throat. She was being reckless. She knew that she was being reckless, the girl she'd met only a few hours before but Belias had known her much longer and deep down somewhere she knew this was what she had to do. "I want to take her in. I know it's sudden, but I know my mind and its made up."

She looked at him, tears in the corners of her eyes and his. "We should adopt her. I'm-- I'm serious."

[MythicDusk]

Belias choked back an emotional laugh at Zari's words. Of course she would want to adopt her. "Good. She's already my little girl. The only thing left is to put it on paper." He hiccupped slightly, tears pushing from behind his eyes.

But she needed to know about where Betty came from. About her claustrophobia, why she was afraid of making loud noises, why her shoulder hurt so badly sometimes. Why she woke up screaming some days.

"You need to know where the scar and her fears came from."

His voice was hard, his brow furrowed as he continued to stare at his hands, turning them over, inspecting them, not willing to meet Zari's eyes.

[Mousen]

Zari smiled softly at his words, glad that he'd confirmed what she already knew: that this was right for both of them. Of course, the future was such an unknown and she could only hope that she would be a good mother, but Belias had proven, time and time again that he was a positive force in Betty's life. She just had to live up to her side in their partnership.

She reached out and touched his hands, her slim fingers ghosting over his scars. "I don't want to know, but tell me, please."

Her hands were dwarfed by his as she rested them there, and she ducked slightly to look up a him. She met his gaze, avoidant of her's though it was. "I love you. I know this is hard for you, but you're not alone. You can trust me with her problems. I'm here."

[MythicDusk]

Belias met her eyes, letting his own close as he took in a tight breath, his shoulders sagging as if all the weight of the world lain there. He slowly looked up, taking in a weak breath.

"Since she was a pup, she was locked in a cage. She was beaten and refused food if she made noise. She was left in her own filth." He felt his jaw clench, his arms begin to shake with tension as he remembered how he had found her.

"She had her shoulder sliced open by one of them. They just pressed dirty rags against it so she wouldn't bleed out. When we got to her, her entire arm was inflamed, full of infection." A spark of anger filled his eyes, a shuddering breath echoing out of him.

"I was the one who opened the cage, who brought her out, she ran into my arms and curled up there, her ear against my heart. She shook so hard." His voice echoed into a hushed whisper, tears beginning to push past his eyelids again.

[Mousen]

Zari tensed as Belias spoke, her nails accidentally digging into his wrists until she realised and moved her hands and balled them up into fists by her side. How could they? How could they do this to a child? The thought alone made her sick, and Belias. After all of the horrors he'd seen as a mercenary and all the things he'd been through, there was this. No wonder Betty was so scared. It broke her heart to think of her that way, made her furious and powerless, and lost.

She felt like a small child again, like the world was big and bad and there was nothing she could do.

Zari took a deep breath and reminded herself that that wasn't true. She unballed her fists, wiped her tears, and kissed her fiances' cheek.

"I'm sorry," she said, leaning her head against his. "That's awful.. My god Belias, who in the world could do something like this? Who could be so fu-" she cut herself off. "I don't know what to say."

She patted away some of his tears. "You could have told me sooner. It worries me to think of you having to deal with all of this alone."

[MythicDusk]

Belias nodded gently, letting his head tilt into the warmth of his fiancee's hand. "I didn't want to tell you until you met her. I was hoping it wouldn't matter when you met her."

His voice was a low grumble in his chest, a soft, saddened sound as he moved his own hands to wipe away the remnants of his tears. "But we can do better. We can give her what she wants and needs." His voice took on a steely edge, as it usually did when he brokered no argument.

"We will care for our daughter, Zari. She will want for nothing. We will be the family she deserved, and the family she deserves."